The present invention relates to hanger systems using apertured display panels for holding tools and objects such as goods on sale.
Peg board display panels are conventionally formed with a regular array of round passages therethrough. Heavy wire hooks are insertable in selected ones of the passages for hanging the objects. Each hook can have an S-shaped anchor extremity that extends through a circular passage, and a shank that is formed for supporting an object, the anchor extremity contacting the back side of the panel for preventing disengagement thereof when the shank is loaded by the object. A principal disadvantage of this construction is that the hooks can be inadvertently dislodged from engagement with the panel. This is particularly true when the object is being placed on or taken off of the hook.
Consequentially, numerous alternative hook configurations have been proposed, typically for use with panels having non-circular passages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,271 to King discloses a slotted board and formed wire hardware having a key that is received through a selected slot when the hardware is turned from a normally horizontal position, the hardware being supported on the board after being allowed to assume the horizontal position. The hardware of King, while being less subject to dislodgement from the panel, is nevertheless not entirely satisfactory. For example:
1. The hardware is unstable, particularly in that most variations thereof are loosely fitted to the board whereby in some variations the hardware can be tipped upwardly while in the horizontal position, and in other variations the hardware is undesirably easily rotated from the horizontal position; and
2. The board is subject to being damaged by the hardware during normal use, in that the slots are loaded by curved portions of the hardware, particularly in configurations not loosely fitted to the board, subjecting the board to local compression failure, and in that the back side of the board is subject to excessive wear by an end extremity of the wire during engagement of the hardware.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,255,987 to Gatch, U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,390 to Niven, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,905 to Schott et al. disclose pegboards and hardware that are characterized by complex shapes that are expensive to produce, even in the typically disclosed molded plastic, tooling costs being especially high for injection molded parts. Molded plastic is also notoriously subject to degradation when exposed to sunlight. Further, the plastic hardware is only marginally suited for use supporting typical tools such as hammers and wrenches that have substantial weight. Moreover, the molded configurations are typically difficult to use in that apertures of the panel are not exposed to view, and the hardware and/or the panel must be awkwardly deformed during engagement thereof.
Thus there is a need for a tool holder system that is easily used without dislodging hardware thereof, that is inexpensive to produce, and that has substantial strength and durability for supporting tools of substantial weight.